Newton Faulkner is not your ordinary singer songwriter – as he sings, his old-soul voice dips from a gently enchanting croon to a commanding roar full of yearning and intensity. His playing surpasses sensitive strumming, using his guitar as a hybrid instrument combining fret board pyrotechnics, unusual picking techniques, altered tunings and a mesmerising percussive use of the guitar’s body.
The 23 year old Surrey UK native, whose debut track “Dream Catch Me” has become the most played song on Australia radio, will bring his unique style and hit roots rhythms to your town in September.
A relative unknown in Australia just 3 months ago, talk of the dread-locked songman was rife following his stand out performances at the 19th Annual East Coast Blues and Roots Festival in Byron Bay last March.
As part of his March tour, Newton Faulkner also opened the show for UK friend KT Tunstall and played just two small shows of his own, both of which were completely sold old. Newton took the stage in his baggy jeans and his wool socks with a cup of tea, crafting catchy acoustic-based songs influenced by grunge, reggae, soul and metal and provided hours of banter and stories for a mesmerised audience.
Picking up a traditional acoustic guitar at the age of 13 years, Faulkner spent his early teenage years teaching himself, so well in fact that at just 16 he secured one of the coveted spots at the prestigious Academy Of Contemporary Music in Guildford, studying under the legendary Eric Roche.
A far cry from those prestigious roots, Newton now prefers to use his hand made guitar (“it’s built to take a hammering”) and has mastered his own style of shuffling beats, chewy blues riffs and the “tapping” of strings which compliment his laid back scat singing and gutsy holler.
Already he’s performed at some of the greatest festivals in the world including Glastonbury and V Festival, and in 2008 is confirmed for Isle of Wight, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Sasquatch. He has opened for James Morrison, Paolo Nutini, John Butler Trio, John Mayer and more, but on this visit he is the headline star… Don’t miss the show everyone will be talking about.
